One night, just after ten o’clock, Sannyāsī Mahārāja sat chanting hari-nāma on a raised mound in a secluded part of his grove within Śrī Godruma. Gazing northward, he saw the full moon had already risen, diffusing an uncommon luster throughout Śrī Navadvīpa-maṇḍala. Suddenly, a divine manifestation of nearby Śrī Māyāpura became visible before his eyes.
Sannyāsī Mahārāja exclaimed, “Oh! What an extraordinary vision! I am seeing a most astonishing and blissful holy place! Towering jeweled palaces, temples and ornamented archways are illuminating the bank of the Jāhnavī River by their glittering splendor. The tumultuous sound of hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana is rising from many places, as if to pierce the sky. Hundreds of Vaiṣṇavas, like Nārada playing upon his vīṇā, are chanting śrī-nāma and dancing.
“On one side is fair-complexioned Mahādeva, with his ḍamarū drum in his hand. He cries out, ‘O Viśvambhara, please bestow Your mercy upon me!’ Saying this, he dances tāṇḍava-nṛtya wildly, then falls to the ground, unconscious. On another side, the four-headed Brahmā sits in an assembly of ṛṣis who are well-versed in Vedic lore. He recites the following Vedic mantra and lucidly explains its meaning:
mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥ sattvasyaiṣaḥ pravartakaḥ sunirmalām imāṁ prāptim īśāno jyotir avyayaḥ